Jerry Peek - UNIX Power Tools

1. Summary Boxes. You'll see gray shaded summary boxes all through the book. (On Safari, the Summary Boxes are bordered sidebars with the title "Summary Box.") They summarize a topic and point you to articles with examples and further explanation.

2. Article/Section Number. The first two digits indicate in which chapter the article resides; the last two digits indicate the number of the article within that chapter. The article number is used to refer to this article in all cross-references throughout the book. (On Safari, Article numbers correspond to Section numbers.)

3. Cross-Reference in a Sentence. To find out more about the topic displayed in gray type (On Safari, this text is displayed in boldface.), see the article referenced by the number in parentheses immediately following the term.

4. Cross-Reference in a Code Example. When a cross-reference occurs in an example, the cross-referenced text and related article number appear in the left margin. (On Safari, these cross-references appear above the code example.)

1. Globe If you don't want to type this script into a file yourself, or if we're talking about a C program that isn't shown, you can download it from the book's web site. See the Preface for full details on the content available for download. (Online version available at http://examples.oreilly.com/upt3)

2. Screw. Be careful with this feature, or you might get screwed.

1. Pushpin. A note to keep in mind, or a helpful tip.

2. Bomb. A bomb icon in the margin is a cross-reference to another article that explains the possible trouble you might encounter using the tip or script in the current article. (You can think of the bomb as a cross-referenced screw.) (On Safari, the Bomb appears above the paragraph it refers to.)

3. Author's Initials. The author's full name is listed in the Preface.

Technical books can be boring. But this is not an ordinary technical book! This book is like an almanac, a news magazine, and a hypertext database all rolled into one. Instead of trying to put the topics in perfect order and expecting you to start at the beginning, then read through to the end we hope that you'll browse. Start anywhere. Read what you want. (That's not quite true. First, you should read this Preface and the pages before it titled How to Use This Book . They will help you get the most out of your time with this book. Next, you may want to skim through the Unix fundamentals in . Then read what you want.)

The book is full of practical information. The main purpose isn't to teach you concepts (though they're in here). We've picked a lot of common problems, and we'll show you how to solve them.

Even though it's not designed to be read in strict order, the book is organized into chapters with related subject matter. If you want to find a specific subject, the table of contents is still a good place to start. In addition, several of the chapters contain shaded boxes . These are like small tables of contents on a particular subject, which might be even more limited than the scope of the chapter itself. Use the Index when you're trying to find a specific piece of information instead of a general group of articles about a topic.